


To Transcend

by odalibuc



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Transcendence, Gen, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-17
Updated: 2015-03-25
Packaged: 2018-03-18 06:46:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3560066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/odalibuc/pseuds/odalibuc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Begins with how the Transcendence happened in my headcannon, then moves on to slice-of-life. Mostly Mable-Pines lifetime-centric, but I may branch out in the future, who knows.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Gravitational Collapse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gravitational Collapse (n.) -t he stage in the evolution of a star in which the pressure of the star is insufficient to maintain it at a stable size, and its material falls inward under its own gravitational attraction, eventually forming a black hole or a neutron star, and sometimes accompanied by a supernova explosion
> 
> credit for definition to Wiktionary

As Dipper watched, horrified, as his sister allowed the world to collapse around them on the _off chance_ that Grunkle Stan might be telling the truth, he felt a little niggle at the back of his head. He tried to concentrate on what was going on around him, focusing as best as he could on the acceptance in his twin's features, the terror he could almost smell coming off of Soos, the _hope_ he could read as easily as his precious journal on Stanford Pines's face. If only the pounding headache would go away. His skull felt like it was tearing itself apart; he'd had a headache ever since Bill possessed him, but it was manageable before. Easy to push to the side and focus on what was in front of him. But now, it was escalating. It was immense, filling every corner of his mind. It swirled inside his brain, throbbing with every beat of his pulse and flare of the nerves that kept him thinking, kept him _alive_. It-

Everything stopped. There was a flash of blue-white light and he might have screamed briefly. His throat certainly felt like he'd screamed at least a little bit. It must have been primal and louder than he'd ever screamed before; it felt like his throat had been torn out by the Claw-Footed Werewasps he'd cleared out of the forest a few days back. But even that passed, as his migraine swelled impossibly and filled all of his senses. He tasted the iron of blood and pain in his mouth - did he bite his tongue? He couldn't tell, there was too much else exploding in his mind. It filled his hearing, a high-pitched whine that wouldn't go away. Even after the while light faded, all he could see were stars against the night sky, impossibly dark and impossibly huge. He could smell sulfur and brimstone and the smoke from fires he knew he'd never see. And the pain... it felt like the Northwest Manor ghost's ax was being driven into his skull, like his skin was being torn apart, like every single cell in his body was on fire.

\------------------------

Mabel could only watch in awe as the portal opened up in front of her. Out from the portal stepped a man, and _she saw six fingers on the hand that picked up that journal what_. Distantly, she heard Grunkle Stan explaining to Soos that the man before her wrote the journals... and that the man was also her grandfather, Grunkle Stan's brother. _What._ She turned to Dipper, to see the look on his face at finding the author of the journals he'd been looking for all summer and maybe to apologize for not listening to him even though she was right (he got touchy about those things and she never meant to maybe hurt his feelings) only to see that Dipper wasn't looking at Pap-pap Stan.

Dipper was looking at the ceiling, still on his back where he fell.

"Dipper...?" She crawled toward him, still too sore from her fall to want to stand up quite yet. Then he rose into the air, screaming like he'd been plunged into fire. Speaking of fire, waves of it _-blue why was it blue fire is orange and red and yellow and warm its not cold and blue and pouring into the interdimensional portal oh **god**_ were pouring off of him, and the air around him warped and twisted and became grayscale and muted and dull. Before she could say anything else, she was hoisted up by her waist and carried at a dead sprint toward the exit. There were five fingers supporting her stomach and a sudden old person smell around her, so it must have been Grunkle Stan carrying her to safety.

They could trust him all along. She was right.

\------------------------

Dipper was suddenly pulled away from his torment and into his own mindscape. It was rather well organized, he was delighted to see. It looked like the library back in Piedmont where he'd hide from bullies with Mabel, except much larger, and all of his memories were in books in great long rows. But creeping into it at an alarming pace was a wave of yellow and brick, and at the forefront-

"Bill! I thought we got rid of you last time! What are you doing here?!" He stood up, shakily at first, then with more confidence as he remembered how to fortify himself in a world limited only by his (rather vast, he liked to think) imagination. He floated up to Bill once he remembered how, staying at the border of where yellow and gray met and glaring at the triangular monster.

"I've been here the whole time kid! Haven't you noticed? I've been pulling at your strings ever since you 'defeated' me" (and here Bill actually made air quotes, that smug little monster.) Dipper was about to respond, so Bill just sewed his mouth shut to continue gloating. "Every time you came within an inch of straying from my master plan I just reeled you back in. You almost messed it up for good just now, so I had to do something to stop you."

Bill floated closer to Dipper, flinging him into his mental library with a swish of his cane. The building groaned under the strain of having its supports blasted through, but Bill just casually floated in after Dipper.

"Nice place you got here!" Dipper mustered his fiercest glare. Being twelve years old, it didn't do much. "Look kid. All I'm trying to do is bring myself into the world of the physical. And to do that, I need to use Stan's portal. Its only a matter of time before the mindscape and the human world join together, and I get to control all of it! And you, my little meat sack, are going to be my puppet for the rest of eternity! However..."

Bill flicked his wrist in a "come hither little worm" motion and Dipper found himself flying up to meet him in the air again. Bill held him up with just a hand on Dipper's chin, and his touch felt like ice and fire and knives all at once.

"I can't have you getting in my way again. See, you can resist and get the word out if I pull you out of your body again, and I have big plans and can't let that happen. So you're going to stay in here until your mind is gone forever. I'm taking your body, and this time I'm not giving you any chance to take it back."

Bill continued gloating, but Dipper was hearing none of it. If Bill won, if he took control... the world was doomed. Grunkle Stan was doomed. _Mabel_ was doomed. He had to fight back. But how...? Following nothing but his gut instincts, Dipper did what was simultaneously the smartest and stupidest thing he possibly could have.

He pulled.

He used his considerable mental strength to pull at Bill, pull him into a cage, something, anything that could contain him. But Bill fought back. Eye narrowed, Bill pulled harder. Dipper used all of his might to try to unravel Bill, take him apart brick by brick like Bill was doing to him, and it worked.

Kind of.

Everything around him stopped. The gray around him began to fall apart, and the yellow and black in the distance did too. It all melded, yellow washing over the gray and then becoming muted again. The headache returned, and Bill was screaming and dissolving. A yellow, fiery thing _his soul that's his soul how do I know that's his soul what's going on ___shot away from where Bill was floating just moments ago, but the cold blue fire remained. It needed directing, Dipper knew it did, because if it got free everything would be different. So many people would die.

_So he did something else that was stupid. Heroic, self-sacrificing, and horrendously dumb._

_He pulled that fire into himself._

_He was screaming again, this time he knew he was screaming; he could hear it, feel it all around him in the air as the gray around him turned black and filled with stars, constellations he could name without knowing, things he could feel without realizing. He could feel himself unravel, feel the stars around him burst to life inside him. His skin was peeling away, leaving nothing but black deeper than space, greater than the end of all of time._

_And he screamed._

__

\------------------------

And then he woke up. The gray of the mindscape and the gray of a lonely heartbroken man's secret project mixed together, and there was no going back, nothing would ever be the same. So Dipper stood up, floating without meaning to and knowing that it was more right, more natural than standing would ever be again. He looked at the world around him and saw stretching before him, filled with a terrible impossible knowing that this moment was pivotal, would shape the rest of his existence.

So he looked at the gray over taking the basement and he _pulled_ and the gray receded. He could feel with impossible senses that he shouldn't have had, shouldn't have been able to use, and knew there were firebirds flying above. That a great Thunderbird was sleeping not three miles away in the cavern with all the dinosaurs. He breathed in and felt all of the magic in the world, that magic that was once muted and dulled by the colors of reality. He breathed out and felt his own magic join the rest, chaotic and wild and shaking off triangles and pyramids and becoming stars, constellations, building and growing and shaping the world with its chaos.

Then he looked down at himself, saw the black with yellow brick lines, and passed the fuck out.


	2. Interstellar Medium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Interstellar Medium (n) - the matter that exists in the space between the star systems in a galaxy
> 
> credit to Wikipedia

Outside the Mystery Shack (in need of major repair), Mabel was panicking. The Stans, as she was beginning to think of them, were watching her pace back and forth as she muttered to herself. Every time it looked like she was going to make a break for the shack - damn the consequences she needed to make sure Dipper was okay - Soos would dart forward with surprising speed and put a hand on her shoulder. Mabel would deflate and start pacing again, more worried than before.

Pounding footsteps and heavy breathing alerted her to the arrival of Wendy Corduroy, who looked and sounded like she'd run all the way from town in her effort to check in on the kids she'd gotten so attached to. Wendy looked up to see the same thing that her boss and his look-alike were steadfastly trying to ignore.

The Shack was twisting into itself, grayscale and real colors dancing around each other in their effort to calm themselves. All around her, the woods were alive in ways she'd only seen glimpses of. More pixies than she'd ever seen in her life danced around the clearing, glowing every color of the rainbow. Firebirds and dragons zoomed past over head, and a grinning she-wolf winked at her before turning and walking away, her fur melting into the visage of a white maiden in an ethereal gown. If she hadn't been de-sensitized to the strange things that happened around the Pines family, she'd have been seriously weirded out.

"Okay Mister Pines, what happened. There was a huge light coming from this direction, and everything started floating away like gravity turned off or something, and suddenly there's more crazy things around town than ever before! What-" Wendy cut off as her phone buzzed in her pocket. Her cousin Henry, normally pretty chill, had sent an alarmed text about brownies in his bedroom, along with an accompanying photo to make it clear that he wasn't talking about the dessert. She sent off a quick reply, something along the lines of 'just make sure you leave out some honey or maybe porridge for them and you'll get along fine' and tried to return to her conversation.

Then she stopped and blinked because _there weren't any brownies outside of Gravity Falls._ She stared at her boss, then looked at Mabel who was more miserable than she'd ever seen. Something clicked and she asked one more question, much more hesitant than before.

"Mabel? Where's Dipper?" Mabel just started crying.

\------------------------

When Dipper woke up, it was to the feeling that something had gone horribly wrong. He floated uneasily off the floor, yelping when he realized he wasn't touching the ground anymore and flipping over a few times in an effort to stabilize himself, waving his arms like a lunatic and almost hitting himself in the face twice. Looking around, he found that he was in the ruins of the Portal room, and also that his clothes had been torn to shreds. Frowning, he eyed the remains of his vest with a critical eye before a burst of magic settled over him and his old outfit was replaced by a respectable black tuxedo, complete with black vest and gold cummerbund. There were gold triangle cuff links and triangle-shaped buttons on his neatly pressed white undershirt, and after some debate he decided a simple black bow tie would be coolest. He caught a blurry glimpse of himself in a ruined sheet of metal and poofed a black top hat over his head to complete the image. Somehow, it just felt right.

His next order of business was to figure out how to get out of the basement. Considering that a brief once-over told him he was still in the mindscape for some reason, just not _his_ mindscape, he opted for floating through the ceiling. It worked, and he found himself amid the ruins of the gift shop a minute later. He saw figures in the distance, five of them. Each was radiating a blue-ish yellow fire-thing (Blyellow? Blellow? What even?) that he knew meant they were upset, so he floated through the door and over to them, mentally berating himself for forgetting to grab one of the leftover sock puppets so he could at least talk to them until he figured out what was going on.

Mabel looked up from her pacing to ponder making a rush toward the house and figure out a way to save Dipper when she noticed a figure floating toward them. Distantly, she felt Soos's hand on her shoulder again, but she paid it no mind. She stood, wide-eyed and shaking, as her brother (in a suit? where'd that come from?) floated towards them, equally wide-eyed and looking for all the world like he'd only been gone for a second and hadn't been in the center of the biggest explosion of magical power she'd ever witness in her life.

"Dipper...?" She ran over to greet him before anyone else could stop her, and tackle-hugged him so hard that they both fell over. He was okay! He was really okay! He-

Her excitement dulled a little when she saw that he sunk into the ground a little bit and that his eyes had changed. Where once was white with brown so dark most thought it was black, now lived a black so deep her brain actually couldn't understand how dark it was and a terrifyingly familiar gold that glowed softly in the fading light of dusk.

"Dipper what happened?! Are you okay?! I'm sorry if I made you mad but I trusted Grunkle Stan and when Pap-pap-" In the distance Stanley Pines mouthed 'Pap-Pap?' at his brother who just shrugged in return. "-came out of the portal I was so excited that you might meet the author but you weren't moving and then you were _screaming_ and I didn't know what to do but you were _on fire and everything was exploding and you kept screaming and_ -"

It was at this point that Grunkle Stan finally blinked out of his confused stupor enough to do more than shrug at his brother out of habit. "Kid? Who're you talking to? There's no one there." Mabel got up from where her tackle landed to glare at Grunkle Stan.

"Of course there is! I know its been a long day what with you getting arrested and all-" Stanley gave his brother a bewildered but resigned glance before deciding he should just let his granddaughter continue, "but how can you tell me that you don't see Dipper! I tackled him for goodness' sake! I know he's not a ghost, since those're blue and glow-y and stuff, but he was even floating! How do you miss that!?"

Silence. Everyone stared at her with wide-eyes, even Dipper, who had gotten back up and floated closer to the rest of his family and friends, snapping his fingers in front of their faces and frowning when he got no reaction except a bit of a shiver from them when he got to close.

"Ỳou ͘reaĺĺy͜ c̷ań'͢t ̴se̸e͜ ̧me̢?" Mabel started at the same time that he jerked back with his hands covering his mouth. "What did I just-" Dipper turned to look at Mabel, fear and confusion all over his face. "What's going o̧n?"

"Dipper, I-" Mabel moved closer to him, to try to offer some support.

"I'̢͜͢l̀l̵͠" He cleared his throat before continuing. "I'll be right back." And Dipper floated off, deaf to her pleas to stay.

\------------------------

Grunkle Stan had spent the majority of his day worrying about the kids' reaction to the portals, worrying about not making it home in time to see his brother step out of the portal, and now more recently worrying that the hole he'd punched through the fabric of space and time had killed his great-nephew. All in all, not the best day so far. Well, he had his brother back, but that was about the only good thing that had happened besides the water balloons and fireworks.

To tell the truth, he was absolutely terrified when the same blue fire from so long ago started pouring off of Dipper, and even more so when he swore he could hear Bill's obnoxious laughter. It was all he could do to drag Soos to his feet, hoist Mabel up under his arm, and make a break for the emergency exit before the portal exploded and took everyone in the basement with it.

Mabel's pacing after they got outside and her anger subsided was only grating on his nerves worse. Stan could sense the unease coming off his brother, but was grateful that he (like always) had the tact to wait until Mabel could start grieving or rejoicing, depending on how the rest of the evening went.

His heart damn near broke when she stood ramrod straight and whispered her brother's name under her breath, almost like a question, a plea to whatever gods might be listening that her brother was okay.

His heart damn near stopped when she bolted towards the house with her brother's name escaping her delighted lips and she tackled the air in front of her _and she fell in slow-motion._ He previously would have attributed that to the gravitational anomalies that had peppered the town since the portal neared total activation, but with its destruction nothing could have caused that now.

Then Mabel started babbling at the ground beneath her and Stan knew she was smart, that she wasn't the type to go insane or start hallucinating if and when something like this went down, and another horrifying thought broke into his already exhausted mind.

Was Dipper dead?

No.

It couldn't be.

Ghosts, as Mabel was saying, were visible unless they didn't want to be and they glowed blue and _how_ did Mabel figure this out? He shuddered briefly as an unseasonably cold wind washed over him, along with a sense of foreboding he'd felt too many times today, except this time with a new, undefinable twist.

Then he heard a faint voice in the wind, warped and echoing and oh god that sounded like Dipper but his voice was different _oh god._ Mabel started more violently than he did, so she must have heard it more clearly. A few seconds later, a fragment of a sentence drifted back to him, and then suddenly the air shifted and the clearing was inexplicably warmer than it was before.

Mabel waited as patiently as she could, but Stan saw her all but vibrate with anxiety. She looked in the direction of the attic window, and Stan chanced another question.

"Kid? What just happened?" She finally tore her gaze away from the shack and turned back to her understandably confused family. She sighed and thought for a moment before answering.

"Dipper looks different and none of you can see him, and I don't think you can hear him either. I think he went to get a sock puppet to talk to us with like what happened when Bill pulled him out of his body."

Okay. That wasn't what he was expecting to hear. He also didn't think he wanted to hear the rest of the story. But she'd trusted him about his brother, so he figured he'd better return that trust.

"I believe you kid." He couldn't see it, but Wendy and Soos were nodding along behind him. Even if they had been in front of him he wouldn't have noticed they stood together in their belief because he was so focused on the child in front of him.

After all... neither of them would ever even consider lying about their brothers.


	3. Conservation of Energy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Conservation of Energy (n) - scientific law stating that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only changed

Dipper was off in the Shack, which looked much better on the inside than it did outside. He dug around the attic, searching frantically for the Mabel-Puppet his sister kept after that fiasco at the theater went down. His hands passed briefly over Bear-O (he almost had a heart attack but pressed on), and after searching for ten minutes through his sister's non-system of organization, he found success. Sliding the puppet onto his hand, he phased back through the window-

Only to discover that the puppet wouldn't phase with him. He went back inside, donned the sock again, and tried to figure out how to get back down to his sibling. If only he could teleport-

And with a sound that sounded like a little blip, he was in front of his sister outside, blinking in confusion.

\------------------------

Never let it be said that Grunkle Stan was not an understanding man. Crotchety? Sure. A cheapskate? Definitely. Voted most likely to swindle you out of house and home in high school? Every time that got mentioned he puffed his chest out with pride. But no matter the circumstances he would always, _always_ , be there for his family. The silence left in the wake of Dipper's apparent departure stretched on for a few more minutes as Stan let Mabel re-focus on what was happening now instead of the millions of questions she was bound to have bouncing around in her brain.

"Alright. You said there was something different about Dipper. What is it?" Mabel gave him a look of relief, grateful that there weren't going to be any awkward questions about _why_ Dipper had been pulled out of his body before and what exactly he was doing talking to Bill Cipher. But mostly, she was just glad that he believed her, really believed her, and wasn't lying before to calm her down.

"Well, for starters he's wearing a fancy suit for some reason. Also his eyes're weird. They're kinda glow-y, and what used to be white is black and what used to be brown is gold. Oh! And he doesn't have that black bit in the middle anymore. And I think his ears were a bit more pointy, but I dunno." The last sentence came out more like a question, but it still made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Before he could say anything else, a floating sock puppet appeared in front of him and whatever he was going to say got swept to the side as another statement came to the front instead.

"What." At this point, it wasn't even really a question so much as a plea to the sky above because _how was this his life?_ But even that had to get pushed to the side because his kids needed him rational. He could sleep off this weirdness in a few more hours. The puppet started talking then and... oh yeah, wow. That was different.

"So yea̴̧̛h, I'm not sure if this is going to work at all, because I feel a lot d͟i͏f͟f҉e̕r͠ent than the last time I had to do this and its harder now for some reason, but basically I'm n̢o̶t dead! I don't know how, since it looked like there was an e̢xp̨l͡osio̴n in there, but I'm fine except my voice keeps changing in weird ways and I don't know _w̵͟h͜͠y̧͝-_ "

"Kid, kid, calm down!" Stanford Pines pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to stave off the building headache and the sense of unease that swept through him every time Dipper's voice shifted."Why don't you tell us what went down for you. The last I saw you were screaming and floating in mid-air and there was demon fire comin' outta you!"

The puppet paused and shuddered for a moment before picking back up again. "First thing you guys need to know is that I've been having headaches since I got back in my body after the soc͟k͝ ope͜ra͏ ͡inc̵id̡e̛nt. Its been getting worse ever since, and back there it was a mig̨r͞ai͠ņe. It́͠͡ hu͠ŗ͜t̀ ̴̛s͏o ̷҉m͠u̴c҉͟h̕ that it felt like everything stopped. And then..." Mabel nodded for him to continue, putting her hand on what must have been his shoulder.

"And then I got pulled into my m͞ind̸s̴c̸àpe͜, and B̛͘il̢͘l̵̸ ̴w̵͡a̡ş̷ ̶t̛͡҉h̢̨é͢r̴͝e̴̢͞. I think his mindscape and mine were mȩrg͞in̸g͏.̶ He told me that he wanted to merge the mindscape and reality and control it all and I decided that I needed to s̛͟t̢̨̛o͘p̴̴̡ ̀͡hi͘͜m̨͘͡. I-"

The sock puppet dropped to the ground suddenly and Mabel started panicking a little bit.

Stan slapped a hand to his face and gazed up at the sky briefly. Again, _how was this his life?_

\------------------------

Dipper sunk lower to the ground in exhaustion as the sock puppet fell through him. "I'm... sorry Mabel; I'm just really tired right now. Do you think you can translate for me?" Mabel stopped freaking out and nodded solemnly. Seeing this, Dipper went back to his story, stopping after every phrase to elaborate or simply give Mabel time to catch up. As he got closer and closer to the end of his tale, Dipper curled into himself more and more, until he was a little ball of anxiety at the end of it.

When he was finished and his family and friends had been silent for more than a solid minute, Dipper chanced looking up. Mabel was crying, the colors around her a much deeper shade of blue-yellow than before. A brief glance at the others confirmed that they were feeling the same. Mabel, Soos, and Wendy were all in tears, but it was the Stan's reactions that really got him.

Grunkle Stan was struck dumb, shock and anguish dancing across his face and Dipper was startled by this, of course he was, but even more so at the little voice in the back of his head that whispered _you caused this pain, isn't it delicious? Isn't it wonderful? Drink it in like fine wine kid, because you'll probably never get this kind of sorrow ever again_ and _that > freaked him out. Before he could further ponder the implications of having a little Bill-voice telling him to act like a monster in the back of his head, his Pap-pap collapsed to his knees, sobbing openly._

_Dipper floated towards him uncertainly, part of him wanting to comfort this man he never knew but should have, part of him enjoying the torment, and the last part disgusted by the little monster in his brain. Before he could say anything, ask Mabel to do something, Stanley Pines heaved greater sobs into his hands, accompanying the first words anyone had heard him speak in thirty years and hating what they were._

_"I'm so sorry Dipper... I missed so much of my son's life and I didn't even get to know you the way you were and now I can't... I can't! I'm sorry, so sorry, but you're not even human anymore."_


	4. Stellar Nursery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stellar Nursery (n) An area of outer space within a dense nebula in which gas and dust are contracting, resulting in the formation of new stars

Dipper found himself unable to speak. He floated there, numb to the world around him, quite literally. It was like his sense of touch had been exchanged for all these new sense assaulting his mind and making it difficult to concentrate. He followed everyone back inside the shack, mute and forlorn, trying to figure out exactly what he had become.

Dinner was an awkward affair. Wendy had gone home after confirming that the Shack would be closed until it was fixed up, but that starting tomorrow she would be required to assist with that effort. Mabel kept glancing over at her brother, categorizing the changes and trying to reassure him that everything was going to be okay with the same expression.

The dining room table been destroyed in the wake of the last gravitational anomaly and subsequent magical explosion and the stove would require more than just two elderly men and Soos to get it back in place, so the Stans and Mabel worked to shove everything off to the side while Soos drove to town to get a pizza for the five of them. Dipper tried to help but found that he passed through everything no matter how hard he tried to be solid, so he just floated in the middle of the kitchen looking lost.

Soos arrived soon enough with dinner, and everyone sat on the carpeted floor where there was space and dug in. The Stans were sitting together, matching expressions of disbelief etched on their once identical faces. They drank in each other's image, trying to see what had changed between them and how to fix it. Soos kept glancing over at them as he munched on his infinite pizza, happy that they could be happy and ready to feel his way around the newcomer to the household.

Mabel sat off to the side where Dipper floated near the ground, away from the rest of the group and watching with eyes full of hopeless longing. When Mabel offered him a slice of the pizza, he just sighed as he demonstrated what he'd discovered before the boxes had even opened; his hand passed right through the food like it wasn't even there. He sat in sullen silence through the rest of the meal.

\------------------------

Nighttime was going to be hardest, Dipper decided. He floated above what used to be his bed, knees held close to his chest and hiding his face. He kept an eye on Mabel all night, floating closer and closer subconsciously only to jerk back over the bed when he realized he was literally inches from his sister. The night dragged on, more quiet than he'd ever known the world could be. If he closed his eyes and _pushed_ , kind of like he'd _pulled_ only hours ago but inexplicably different, he could see and feel Mabel's dreams. When he dared to look, it was a constant replay of the last moments of his conscious humanity, full of horror and anxiety.

He only closed his eyes once that night, and only for a moment.

\------------------------

Morning came, but not soon enough. Mabel yawned and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. A single glance at the clock informed her it was 7:00 am. She tossed a sleepy "morning bro-bro" at the other bed before getting up to feed Waddles, and the events of the previous night hit her like a truck. She gasped and turned to look more closely at her brother, who still floated over his bed looking like a kicked puppy. He looked back at her and said the first thing since Pap-pap Stanley had his mini-breakdown the night before.

"I can't ever sleep again." Then he fell silent again. and followed his sister downstairs, floating only an inch from the ground, hoping it would make him more normal.

The Stans were in the kitchen, chatting quietly as they put together a new table. They broke off as Mabel walked in wailing "Grunkle Stan, Dipper's being a melodramatic doofus!" Stanley sent a bewildered look at his brother, who merely shrugged and turned back to his grandniece.

"What's he doing now, Mabel?" She sent an indignant Dipper an amused glance before responding.

"He's been all mopey since last night and the first thing he said to me this morning was," she pitched her voice down in a ridiculous impression of her brother, "'I can't ever sleep again.' And he's doing that sad hamster thing with his eyes-" Dipper squawked again but Mabel pressed on- "And he just needs a hug and someone to tell him he's normal because I think he's making slime come out of the walls."

There was indeed slime coming out of the walls. It was yellow and smelled like sulfur and pancakes. Dipper started stammering apologies, and once Mabel repeated them Grunkle Stan stared hard at where he assumed his grandnephew to be (he was off by three feet) and decided to attempt to comfort him and get his mind off his situation in one fell swoop.

"Kid, I don't know what happened to ya. I don't know if your life is going to change beyond the obvious, and I don't even know if I'm ever going to actually see and hear you again. But if you can manage to make that happen again when I'm bringing suckers through the museum, I will let you have your pick of TV shows for the rest of the month."

Dipper stiffened as the same niggling voice from the night before came back stronger than ever. He pushed it down again before it could start demanding terrible things of him, but he did consider Stan's deal. Before he knew what he was doing, he had accidentally pulled his family into the mindscape.

Everyone jerked in surprise and mild horror as their world suddenly became gray and muted. Stanford looked at Dipper, looking over what had changed and what had stayed the same. Stanley looked at his grandchild for the first time, tears in his eyes (which he was fairly sure his brother would tease him for later) as he raked his eyes over the floating form of the child he'd only had a glimpse of the night before.

"Okay broseph, that was seriously weird. Do you have Bill's powers or something?" Dipper didn't even look at her. He had straightened out of his previous position, floating higher above the humans below him with some of his teeth unintentionally bared. His hair became wilder, revealing that the birthmark on his forehead had been replaced with a single glowing yellow eye.

"G̡r͏unkļe S̕t̡a̕n͘,̕ you ͘wis͢h̷ ̢f͝oŕ me t̛o̶ ̵make̕ t̸he wa̢ll͡s ͜ǫo̷z̡e̵ ̕th̸at weir̡d̶ ͜śl̛im͜e͘ wh͏en҉e̕v̡er ͠the҉r͜e aré ͢cust̡o͏m͏e͘rs̀ in͞ ͡t͞he ͏muse͠um.̛ ͘I͜n exchange,҉ I͏ w̵i̵l͠l̕ ͘hav́e cònt͞r̢ol o̴ve̶r̀ ͠the ͠TV f҉ór̷ t̨h͡e̵ r͡e͏st ̢of ͟a͝ mo͝nth͢. ̕Is͝ th͢a̢t a̷ d̴̨e͠a͝l?͢͡"

That was different. Grunkle Stan blinked as theories about Dipper's new species began to click into place. Only one way to find out for sure.

"We have a deal." And they shook on it, blue fire coating both their hands. With a pop, everyone returned to reality, rubbing their eyes and blinking in confusion.


	5. Protostar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Protostar (n) a contracting mass of gas that represents an early stage in the formation of a star, before nucleosynthesis has begun

A few weeks had passed since what news stations and politicians had been calling The Transcendence. Dipper was slowly adjusting to his new form of existence, staying next to Mabel whenever she was awake and exploring the forest around town when she slept. He was relieved to know that not much had changed between him and everyone else he'd known over the summer, and delighted when his grandfather started swapping theories about the supernatural with him (Mabel acted as the resigned translator). So far, he'd had little contact with anything inhuman. Every time he tried to get close, everyone ran away; the manotaurs screaming like little girls the whole time.

He stopped going into the woods so much after that.

Gravity Falls itself was adapting to the supernatural with remarkable aplomb. While the rest of the world was on the verge of panicky anarchy, the townsfolk just shrugged and got on with their lives. Bread was left on doorsteps over night so the more kidnapping-prone fairies would leave children alone, and griffons were shooed out of diners and living rooms with resignation and a broom, mop, or whatever else was on hand.

Out of all the townsfolk, Fiddleford McGucket had undergone the most drastic change. The shift in the astral and physical planes seemed to restore much of himself and while he refused to shave his beard, claiming that a beard that long was something to be proud of, he was able to walk normally again and his voice returned to the way it was pre-memory gun. He was much more stable mentally, no longer building giant death or shame-bots, though he kept his raccoon wife. In fact, the town was looking better than it had in over a decade.

Dipper hummed to himself as he glided over the town, enjoying the wind in his face and trying to ignore the pain in his mouth. It had been growing for the past hour, and he had a feeling that if he'd still had blood, he would have tasted iron in his mouth. He tried to shrug it off, like he had managed to do for almost everything that had happened so far, but it wasn't really working. It was bad enough that his voice did that weird thing sometimes and that he'd noticed his birthmark had changed when he looked in the mirror two days ago. It was bad enough that is teeth were really sharp now and he'd developed a lisp as he learned to talk around them, which Mabel teased him endlessly for. But he was starting to suspect that he was growing a second set of teeth, and he huffed as he pouted at the ridiculousness of the change. What did he even _need_ a second pair of teeth for? He certainly didn't need them to eat; he hadn't been hungry for a week.

His train of thought was interrupted by a jerk behind his navel, and he was gone from Gravity Falls with no one the wiser.

\------------------------

He blinked in confusion as he took in his new surroundings. He was in a dimly lit room, a basement if the small, high window were anything to judge by. The scent of cinnamon assaulted him, and he breathed it in before sputtering and hacking. When he was done with his coughing fit, he glanced up to see four pairs of eyes in front of him, blinking confusedly up at his face. The people who the eyes were attached to gaped at him for a good few minutes before one of the ones near the front elbowed the person that was obviously their leader - his robes were more heavily embroidered at the very least - and the leader began to speak.

"Oh mighty one! We have put great effort into summoning a mighty demon to grant us power in the chaos of this new world! No demon of your likeness has been seen as of yet, Great One, so I ask you; what is your name?"

Dipper just stared at them some more, freaking out that these people could see him and thought he was a demon. The silence lasted an uncomfortably long time, while something that smelled of metal and life dripped in the background. A glance down revealed that a lamb was bleeding out on a table below him, and Dipper could feel power welling up inside of him with every drop spilled. He panicked a little bit more, especially when he discovered he couldn't move out of the circle below him _that was Bill's circle holy shit how did other people know what it was how in the world could it summon him what_ and that there was a picture frame in the middle of the circle, and the occupant's face was crossed out with more blood. The little niggling voice in the back of his head snapped at him again, begging for him to give in, and for once Dipper went with it.

"M̴͓̣̜ͅy̯̩ ̜́n̷̥̘̙̖a̡̠̜͇͉͇m̴̖̣̖̫̘̰e ̼͕̟̟͖̣i҉th ͔̙̙o͇̣̩f̘͔͉͘ ̠̜̮̱̳̜̝n̤̯̣̮̻̺o̘͈̯̘̟ ̠͉͇̝̟͟c̟͎̯̼͘o͉̟̝ṉ̦c̖̯̤̠͎̫̫e̘͚̭r͙̜n̲̦͎̩͢ ̘͉̫̩̟̬ͅt̬̖͚͓o̯̪̳̱͓͔̲ ̠͇͙̟̬̱y̘̱̥̗o͚̖̮̟u͏̣,҉̻ ͘f̧̘͔̖̝̗l̬̟̰es̡h̩͞ ̴͔͉̥̻̗̭̳ḅ̛̦̘̥͔̳ą̩͇̟g̣̟͎̰͙͉.͕̰ ̞̤̤̗̯W̫͉͇̦͔͕h̶̤͖͙̩̙͖a̝̤͜t̙̺̝̰̰̼̹ ̭͍͉̗̪̪w̲̤͕͙͕̠ó̲̯̘̯̖̺u̦̫̙̫̜͖l̬̦̫̩d ̡̫̲yo͙͈̩ụ ̝̖͓͖̩͘a̸̗̬̦̘̜̜thk̰͈̗̼̞̳ ̶̦͖͚̲̜̦̜o̪̭͔͔̻f̪̟̖̮͔ͅ ̶̙̮̣͓͈̮m͏͉̬̱͕e̵͚͉̣?̻͎̩̰͍" Oh good. The weird voice thing was back and he was still lisping. Oh well. The cultists - what else could they be? - started out of their stupor. The leader launched into what was obviously a well-practiced speech, sweating and stammering and wondering what they had done wrong.

"Oh Mighty One! We seek vengeance on one who has wronged us! Each of us has lavished our attentions on a beautiful woman, only to be spurned at every turn. Such a poisonous mentality should not exist in this world! We wish for the destruction of her mind!" Okay. Dipper did _not_ want to do that. These guys were acting like some of the jerks he'd seen around Piedmont, who thought that just because they were there they were entitled to this person's love. Dip needed to figure out how to screw them over. But how? He put on his best thinking face, making a show of considering the deal.

"Ą͈̼͖̥̙̙n̻̦ͅd͏̣̬ w͈̖̖͇̟̞̰̕ha͎̳̰̫t͓̕ ̙̙̬̘͇̮̤w̢̻̼̟͙̲̹o̹̯͚̭͘u̶̦͇̥̞l͉͖̲͔̼͇̕ḓ͙̦̲̙ ̩͞y̞͟o̠͓͝u ͔̹͖o͓͠f͍̻̠̣͉͜f̶̺̬͇̣̺͖e͎̹͔̱͎͔̭r͏̘̙̜͖̳̲ ͉̙͚m̵̙̭͓̠̦ę̘̜̬̥͓̦̪ ̱̻̙i͏͙̲̰͇ͅņ͇̘̻͈̝ ͕̖̮̫͉r̠̳͉̼͕̝̝͟e͇͇̼̲̬̹̫t̡̠̯̜͍̞̥u͚̦͔̞͘r̯ṋ͈̙ͅ?҉̗̝͎̭̝͖" He was starting to get an idea; now to make sure he could work with what they were offering.

"We gladly give you a single year off each of our lives." Dipper began calculating again. There were ten people present, so that would be a sum of a single decade total. Without knowing how, he decided it would be enough for what he was about to do. He spoke again.

"Ỵ̷̼̣̞̘̹ͅò̦͕͓u̖ ̗̹̹͙̤̯͠ͅw̴͙̯̪̭̘̞̰i͈̩͔̮̳s̹̟̗̣̳̟͍͟h̼̟̟ ̟͔t͖̯o̠͖̳ ̝͉͓e̺̞͕̪̲͘l͍͕̯̲̞͞i͎̩̱͙͈̜m̫̱̠͍̹̭̼i̙͚̝̤͢n̵̺͖͈a̟͖͉t̥ͅe͔͖̫̤̥ ͕a̜̮̱͙̝͉ ͈̯̭͔̜̥t̕ę͔ŕ̯͈͉̘̙̤͍r̼̰͚͖͔ͅi̷̭͇̖̳b̯̺̩̖̜̦le̢̻ ̝̮m̭̩͇̱̮̥͢i͍̟͎̻n̴͇̭̯d̥the͔͎͈̬͈t̻̜̙̫̖͓ ͏̠͓̗f̰̕r͜o͚m̸̞̪͙̯͇ͅ ̪̼̣̠t̷̞͖͖ḥ͕̹̫̩i͏̭̹̪͍ͅth ̪̹̻͈͉̳̻͟wǫ̹̪̜̣r͖̺̟͖l͚̗̫͓̰͡ͅd̻, ̩͉̻͙̟a͚n͖͍d̫̲̦̠͕̳ ̷i̛͕̺̫n̰͢ e̲̼̼̠̮̬̭x̯̝c̟̜͎̝̭h̜̣̖͚̫̘̟a̖̼͜n̟̭̩̬͇̱̜g̯̜̜̙e͍̖̣͓̰ ͓̀y̗̜͉̝̼͈͠o̸̬̠u͇̺̭̺͖ e̸̺̭a͙̼͙͖̼̱c̬̜h̩͕͖̥̯͘ ̠̪̩͝l̪͓̤͚͕͖o̼̥̭̼̣͈s͈̳̘e͉ ̛͎͇a̰̫͎͞ ̦͎͞y̖̙͍̖é͙̫̲ͅa̛̖̗̝̮ṛ̼͉̥̞̭ ̧̠̱o̬̥̥̜f̜̖͍ ͍̬y͓̰̞͉̳̲ͅo̵̬͈̱͓u͙̞r̼̘ ̴̰͕̱͍̰͖li̴̠̞v̭͈̠͘es̸̫͉̠.̳̘̖ ̤͍̩͉͙͈̼I̥͠ ͔̘͚͠f̜͜i̳̘͕̮̠̯n͙̖d͎̖̫̣̼ ̗̗̝̻̫̻͝ͅt̸̗̖h͓̬̪̖̝i̺͘th ̛̘̰̭̦̠̣̺a̴͕̞kthe͇̹̫̬̺̬͕p̘t̳̥͙̮̗a͏̭b҉̝̝̭͙͙̪̞l͖̥̟̲̟͍e̫̺̬.̛̻ͅ ̪̙D̸̖o̝̠̳͖͜ ̵̙͓͕͙w̰̤e҉ ̶̩͕̲̗̣̭h̛̩͕̩͖̦͚a̜̥̼̭̫v̗͕̥͓͔͍͚͞e̙̮͕̕ ̥͚̟a̰̯͔̭̼̫ ̰̘̘d̤͙̻̘͝ͅe̹͙a̺͍͈͈̜̼l͚̯̗̗͟?̜͙͕" He held out his hand, cool blue fire flaring up. The cult leader nodded firmly and stepped forward to shake his hand, delighted that they were finally going to get their revenge. They shook hands, and as soon as the years of life had been transferred to him, Dipper rose again, cackling with glee. He stretched out with his powers, pulling and pushing at the minds of the cult that had summoned him for something so absurd as getting friendzoned. Friendzoning, Mabel had explained to him when he was still upset about Wendy's rejection, was toxic and wrong.

They wanted him to get rid of something toxic.

So he did.

He watched, giggling, as his powers tore their minds to pieces. He didn't kill them, they'd given him only a year of life each and he wanted them to suffer for all of the time they had left. He remembered how crazy McGucket had gotten after using the mind-wiping device on him so much, and sought to bring the same lovely insanity to these people. Within five minutes, they were howling on the floor, babbling in an incoherent non-language and tearing at their hair. One of them was scratching the skin off himself in long strips with his nails and sobbing quietly to himself in the corner; that was nice. Another two were draped over each other, drooling out of the corners of their mouths as their concept of reality unwound in front of them. Mentally, they grasped at the fragments of what they knew with longing but nothing stayed for long. Instead, the absolute inescapable truth filled their minds past the bursting point. Every little factoid in the universe wedged itself into their minds. Unable to cope, they hurt themselves or each other in an attempt to distract themselves from every horrible thing they saw.

And with a little satisfied blip (he'd been practicing), Dipper went back to the Mystery Shack with a smile on his face just in time to make the walls bleed for Grunkle Stan.

Looks like they were watching tonight's Ducktective marathon after all.

\------------------------

Dipper appeared back in the Shack, whistling tunelessly through a convenient gap between his sharpened teeth. He floated over by the TV to interrupt Mabel's knitting session, ignoring the gnomes and pebble golems that were lining up for her sweaters. He reclined in the air, watching her work for a short time after trying and failing to get her attention. He huffed, deciding to go bother Pap-pap Stanley for a while. His grandfather had taken to researching the spread of the supernatural and was greatly intrigued by Dip's new senses. Pap-pap was sitting at the kitchen table, scribbling in a journal that had been freshly emblazoned with a shining six-fingered hand.

"Tho... any new ideath?" Dipper didn't expect Stanley to hear him, it was more habit than anything else that kept him talking to the people around him. He certainly didn't expect Stanley to jump a foot in the air, banging his knees on the bottom of the table and cursing. Stanley turned to get a better look at his grandson, mouth falling open when he realized that he could see the kid and the world was still in color. "I get the feeling I'm tholid right now. Am I tholid? Because I just got back from what I think wath a thummoning and the guyth gave me lamb blood and ten years offa their lives and I'm feeling pretty good right now." He flipped over onto his back, looking at his grandfather upside down and smiling just a bit too wide to be entirely natural. Stanley just sighed and pushed out his chair, beckoning Dipper to follow. They moved back into the TV room, Stanley Pines doing what Dipper could not and waking Mabel from her knitting-induced trance.

"Mabel honey, go get your Grunkle. We have something we need to talk about." It was at that point that Mabel's audience of supernatural woodland creatures noticed Dipper and bolted out the window. She huffed and crossed her arms, muttering about ruining her Disney Princess vibe as she left to obey her grandfather's command. The two of then returned shortly, Grunkle Stan blinking at the sight of his still-grinning nephew floating in the air, 90% sharp teeth and 10% crazy eyes. When everyone was seated or floating comfortably, Stanley Pines began to speak.

"For the last few weeks, I've been trying to piece together exactly what my grandson has become in the wake of the Transcendence. I had some suspicions, and my research was proving fruitful. If not for something that happened in the last few minutes had not occurred I would have known for sure within the month. However, all of my suspicions have proved true." He turned to Dipper. "Dipper, you said that someone summoned you. Tell us more about that." Dipper flipped so he was right-side up again and tried to figure out how to phrase his experience.

"W͞ell͞..͠.̸ I wath ekthploring town when I felt like I wath being pulled somewhere. Next thing I knew, I wath in the middle of a thircle with thented candleth around it and a lamb bleeding to death on a table. Thome guyth in robeth were àt͠hk͠i͏ng͞ m͞e ͡to͟ ́g̕et̕ ̧r҉ev҉e͢nǵe on͘ t̕ḩome͝ g͟ir͜l. They gave me a year off each of their lives and there were ten of them, and the way I phrased the deal they wanted me to make was kind of vague. I got them to agree that I would get rid of thomething toxic for them, and wound up d̵r̢i͞vin͡g them͏ ҉i͝nth̴ane." Dipper paused for a second as he took in the fact that, wow, he just drove ten grown men insane for daring to interrupt h̴ìs̀ free time with something as s͡t͞u̢pid as ṕe̵tt́y̷ re҉v́e͢n̵ge. "They got pretty bad by the time I got out of there..." He shivered as he remembered the smell of blood and fear in the room, unmasked by even the horrid candles they'd used. Before, it invigorated him, getting him excited. Now, it just made him want to puke.

And puke he did. It was yellow and sparkled. Having seen weirder things, his family just sent him looks of sympathy. Pap-pap Stanley cleared his throat when Dipper was done and continued.

"Just one more question then. Dipper, what was going on inside your mindscape down in the basement? I know you said that you fought Bill and that you won, but what specifically took place?" Dipper frowned in concentration, sitting cross-legged in the air and tapping his chin in thought.

"Well, Bill and I were trying to pull͢ e̡ac̵h̡ othe͞r ͘ap̀ar̵t͠. It worked, and hith thoul flew away from me. All the blue fire thtayed though, and I made it go into me before I got any worse and before it tharted pulling apart reality. It hurt a lot, but the next thing I knew I wath alone in the bathement. I kinda pul͞l̢e̛d́ at the magic stuff that was coming out of the portal, and I think I̷ ͘ḿade͘ ̶tḩe ̢T͠r҉a͠n͢th̀e̶nden̡th h͏appen?" As he told his tale, Stanley's face got more and more serious. There were a few minutes of silence, before he broke it at tentatively as he could.

"Dipper, do you remember when I said you weren't human anymore?" Dipper nodded, already curling himself into as tight a ball of anxiety as he could. "Well, I figured out what species you are. When Bill Cipher died, all of his demonic energy went into you. You're a demon now, Dipper."

Dipper blipped away as soon as he was done speaking.


	6. Binary System

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Binary System, n. - a system of two objects in space which are so close that their gravitational interaction causes them to orbit a common center of mass

Dipper floated aimlessly in the Mindscape, hovering in the cosmos away from his family. He hovered near the sun, angled so it was below him and staring at Ursa Major in the distance. For so long, the Big Dipper had sat on his forehead, and he thought it would be the closest he could get to the stars above. But now, he reflected, he could probably stay among them forever. He didn't need to eat ever again. He didn't need to sleep ever again. He didn't even need to breathe ever again. He was a demon now.

A demon. A monster. Something vicious and _evil_. He'd heard stories about demons and devils growing up. His family wasn't super religious, but he knew the tales. He knew that the devil tempted Adam and Eve and tricked them into being banished from the Garden of Eden. He knew that demons tricked people. Demons lied to people. Demons did whatever they could to cause others misery and pain.

Demons were like Bill Cipher. Bill Cipher, who was dead because of him. Did that make him a murderer? Did it make him a hero? He'd stopped the Transcendence from being worse than it could have been, but he didn't stop it completely. Because of him, the world was in absolute chaos. He pushed away the thoughts of how much fun the world would be now in disgust, returning to his thoughts.

He was a demon now. Over and over, Dipper repeated that one thought to himself. He was a demon now. He was a demon now. He was a demon now. On some level, he supposed he shouldn't be surprised. It was only natural that in keeping Bill's power, he should become the only thing that could use Bill's power. Bill... Terrible, blinding rage filled him at the thought of Bill Cipher. It was b̛eca̸us̢ę ̧òf̀ _hi͜m̵_ t̵h͘at̴ ͜he was̶ like͢ ̀t̕his. I̛t was ̛b͝ecau͏s͜e̛ ̛o҉f ͟B̷ill͘ ̢C͟ip̵he̷r̡ ̢t͝hat̕ he ̢was a͘ ͏m̨on̨śte͢r! He͡ was a͠ f̡ŗe͞ak! If and when Bill finally managed to reincarnate, Dipper would màk̵e͏ ͞h̶im̕ ṕ̢a̢҉͞ỳ͜͞. He could never be normal again because of _hi͜m̵_. He could never be by Mabel ever again. Because of _B͜i͏l͟͝l̀͢ ̧͘͠C̸ì̛p̶҉̸h̴̡e̢̢ŕ͢͢_. Oh Mabel...

It was probably better to stay among the stars for the rest of eternity, never returning to Earth so he could never hurt anyone ever again. Demons were too dangerous to be around humans. He sighed as he contemplated a life without contact with anyone or anything he'd ever known. Better find a hobby, or this would get boring fast. Absently, he started naming all of the stars he could see, trillions more than any telescope could ever hope to find. Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Alkaid, Mizar... he paused and frowned as he gazed into Mizar. Next to it, circling endlessly around its sister, was the star Alcor. Rather like him once upon a time. Yes... he was like Alcor; nearly invisible and always spinning carefully around the bright and beautiful star in his life. His Mizar. His Mabel.

He was startled out of his train of thought by the feeling that someone was pulling at him. He knew instantly, without even thinking about it, that Mabel was calling him. That Mabel wanted to see him. And without any choice in the matter, Dipper popped back out of space.

\------------------------

He jerked back into reality inside the kitchen of the Mystery Shack. He glanced over the circle that brought him there, mentally making some adjustments so in the future if Mabel needed him they could stop using Bill's circle. It still worked for him, but wouldn't for much longer. He glanced up at Mabel, noticing that the Stans were hovering in the background. Stanley looked nervous, and Stanford looked at Mabel with pride. Mabel took a deep breath, and finally spoke.

"Dipper, I will give you half of my candy stores in the Mystery Shack if you tell us why you left and then listen to what we have to say in response." Dipper considered it, using his weird new powers to figure out how much candy he was being offered... dear Moses that was a lot of sugar. On the one hand, he absolutely didn't want to be anywhere near humanity when he was an actual demon. On the other hand, he hadn't even been in space for an hour and he'd already gotten bored out of his mind. Any longer and he might have even started writing bad poetry. He sighed and held out his hand, covered in blue flames. Mabel grasped it, and he tried not to notice her shudder as they shook.

"D͕̫͞ea̜̟l̸̙͉̦̦̯͈.̙͙" Mabel gave him a small smile and gestured for him to start talking. "I... I left because I'm a ḍ͎̟̜̳̥e̳m̩͉̖̝͓͙o͎̼ͅņ. I'm a monster. I̬̝ ̴̹c̭̳͈̞͎̤̠o͚͞u̪l̸̖̘̟̮d̵͍̫ ̶̖̱͉͎̳͖͙s͕͔͎e̶̞̼̩̰r̻͕ͅi̵o̵͈̺̣͔̙ͅu͉͈̬̹͈͢ͅs̭͔̗̳l̳̮y̺̩̠͈ h͏̲̟ͅu͔̩̼̰͍ṟ͓͔̥̮t̟͇̲̠ ̸̣̪̮̣̩y͚̘̕o̤̪̯̘u̴̮̙̖̺͇, that's what dem̡͘ǫ҉n̕͜͠s̷̶͠ ̶͞d̀͝o͜͠!̺͙̰͇̪͝ Its better for everyone if I just leave and don't come back. If I'm hovering around you all the time, you won't ever get a chance to have a normal life. Not when I'm like this." Mabel sighed and peered up at her brother. He still looked like a sad hamster.

"Dippingsauce, stop being dumb." Dipper spluttered indignantly, but Mabel pressed on before he could actually say anything. "You think that just because you're a demon, I should stop trusting you? You're my brother! You've always been there to keep me safe, you've always protected me! Why should you be any different now?! Aren't demons supposed to be possessive? There's _no way_ you'd ever even be able to consider hurting me! So please... don't go away again!" By the end of her tirade, Mabel was in tears. Dipper looked between her and the Stans, panicking because _oh god Mabel's crying what do I do I'm not usually why she's crying shit shit shit._ He floated down so he could be level with her and awkwardly patter her back until she was able to compose herself.

"Mabel... "

"No! I'm not done! I know you can be normal Dipper! Just because you happen to have turned into a demon doesn't mean that you're not you anymore! You can still live a normal life! When the summer's over, we're both going to go bad to Piedmont and start seventh grade, and you're going to be really good at math and science and I'm going to be really good at music and English and we're both going to be bad at Spanish! We're the Mystery Twins, you can't just leave me! Please don't leave me all alone..." Mabel collapsed to her knees as she finished, sobbing into the floor.

Dipper gazed at her for a few moments before speaking. "Mabel... I promise. I will never leave you again. To tell you the truth, I didn't even want to leave in the first place. I was just so scared of hurting you. I still am... I don't want to be a mon̶st́e̡r̶̢͜." Dipper started crying, golden stars falling from his eyes. "I ͡don͝'t wa̴n̸t ̛to̴ ̕b͠e͡ ͢a҉ m̀ons͟te͘r!҉ ̵I̡ jus̴t wa̷n̕t ͢t҉o̵ be͡ n͘o̢r͏ma̛l͠! ̴I̛ ́wa͠nt t̵o go ̴t͝o ̕şch͟o̸ol͢ ͞w̴it͟h̢ ̛y̕ǫu and h̡an͞g o̶ùt h̶er̨e͟ ͜o͡v͘er̵ ͘t҉he s̡u̧mm̛e̛r̨! ͡I wąn͞t̷ ͜t͏o ҉se͟e ̨mom̵ a̕n͞d dad̶ a̷ga̕i̧n ̵a͘ņḑ ̧be a҉b͠le ͜to ̷h͟ug̴ ̷them! ͠I͡ d̨ón't ͢w͟an̶t to̸ be a ̸d̶emòn...̷ If I stay, you have to promise me that you'll keep me from hurting the people we care about. You have to keep me grounded. If you promise me that... then I'll stay by your side forever. I promise to never leave you alone." Mabel looked up with him, hope in her eyes. Dipper had extended his arm, but not to shake hands. Instead, he'd extended his pinkie finger. Mabel locked her pinkie with his, and they shook on it. It was more informal than any deal any demon would ever make, and yet they both knew that he would keep this promise above all others.


End file.
